Cavs: Post-2019 NBA Draft and summer league preview roundtable

With the 2019 NBA Draft now concluded, the KJG team discussed how the Cleveland Cavaliers made out and how prospects they selected could fit in the coming years.

The Cleveland Cavaliers came into the 2019 NBA Draft with two selections, at fifth and 26th overall, as we often mentioned leading up to the event.

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It was reported throughout the last few months that the team, and general manager Koby Altman, in particular, believed they could acquire another first-round pick (either in the 2019 NBA Draft or in future drafts) in exchange for J.R. Smith‘s team-friendly contract for 2019-20.

Unfortunately, it turned out that Altman and the Cavaliers did not want to take back bad contract money along with the potential pick, though, according to a recent report from The Athletic‘s Joe Vardon (subscription required).

Additionally, as we essentially detailed as a result of Vardon’s report, it seems as though Smith’s partial-guarantee of just $3.87 million for next season (the last of his contract) will be paid to him, assuming Cleveland can’t find a trade partner by the end of this month, the deadline that would pay him his full-guarantee of $15.68 million, which is fine (salary information via Spotrac).

So, at any rate, the Cavaliers did end up adding three draft picks to their roster, though.

Those were, as we’ve hit on, Vanderbilt lead guard Darius Garland at fifth overall, Belmont wing Dylan Windler at 26th overall and USC wing Kevin Porter Jr. at 30th overall via trade with the Detroit Pistons (who had that pick via reported trade with the Milwaukee Bucks; details of that deal reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski).

As far as the details, Cleveland gave up four future second-round picks and cash, per The Athletic and Stadium’s Shams Charania and Wojnarowski.

Along with that, Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor noted that Cleveland also sent Detroit $5.0 million in cash and gave the full details on the future picks, and Basketball Insiders’ Spencer Davies noted that the trade is likely to be completed by the middle of this week.

So in relation to this roundtable, I asked the KJG team about what they thought of the picks, how the picks could affect the Cavs’ rotation/potential trading of expiring players, a bit on summer league and a bit more on Smith.

On to question number one.